Tim Pawlenty: Republican Party must back wage hike

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday that Republicans should support a “reasonable” increase in the minimum wage.

“If you’re going to talk the talk about being for the middle class and the working person, if we have the minimum wage, it should be reasonably adjusted from time to time,” said Pawlenty, the CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents 100 top financial services companies in banking, investment and insurance sectors.

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“For all the Republicans who come on and talk about, ‘we’re for the blue-collar worker, we’re for the working person,’ there are some basic things that we should be for. One of them is reasonable increases from time to time in the minimum wage,” he added.

Pawlenty, a Republican, later clarified his views in an email to POLITICO, saying he doesn’t support the minimum wage bill currently being considered in the Senate because it goes “too far and too fast.”

“…(W)hile I support reasonable increases in the minimum wage, the proposal being presented by the Senate majority goes too far and too fast,” the former governor said. “I wish they would work with Republicans to find a reasonable compromise on this issue.”

Pawlenty also noted in his email that the Roundtable has not taken an official stance on the minimum wage: “FSR has not taken a position regarding the minimum wage. I was just expressing my personal views on the matter.”

Pawlenty served as Minnesota’s governor from 2003 to 2011. He sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but dropped out in mid-2011.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday is set to call for Congress to boost the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, a measure Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has slated for a vote possibly as soon as Wednesday.

Reid, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, invoked Pawlenty’s comments in his push for raising the minimum wage.

“I ask my colleagues to join us, join Gov. Pawlenty, that Americans deserve a liveable wage. At the end of the day, our job is to give every American worker a fair shot to provide for themselves and their families.”

Pawlenty also said he is a “supporter of rational and comprehensive immigration reform,” but added that he thinks immigration reform won’t get done this year and that 2015 is more likely.